Ayatollah Khamenei expresses ‘pessimism’ after Iran nuclear deal

“Yesterday these families finally got the news they’d been waiting for”, he said referring to the USA nationals who have been released by Iran. “Iranians are among the most educated workers in the world but, unfortunately, the unemployment rate is very high, their currency has been crushed”.

All three Americans were released from Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison after 14 months of top-secret diplomatic bargaining that started on the sidelines of the nuclear talks.

Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said the new sanctions would have “no effect”, telling the Fars news agency: “We will prove it in practice by unveiling new missile achievements”.

Answering to Rouhani’s letter, Khamenei expressed satisfaction with the removal of global sanctions against Iran.

The decision came just a day after Washington had lifted a series of painful economic penalties as part of an worldwide deal struck last summer in which Iran promised to roll back its nuclear program.

While U.S. officials say Iran will only pocket about $50 billion of those assets after legal claims, the announcement of this new settlement is expected to fuel criticism that the Obama administration is funding a regime bent on destroying the United States.

This was a busy weekend for US-Iran relations, with Switzerland continuing to play a role as US President Barack Obama announced the end to nuclear sanctions.

American prisoner Matthew Trevithick, who was released separately from the other four, has left Iran.

President Obama on Sunday hailed the release of Americans from Iranian custody and the implementation of an historic accord to curb Iran’s nuclear program, pointing to the breakthroughs as products of diplomacy. Senior White House officials said a fourth prisoner released, Nosratollah, Khosravi-Roodsari, decided not leave Iran.

Tehran has said it will carry on with the missile program despite the new USA sanctions.

Also on Sunday, the USA announced that Iran will receive $1.7 billion in debt and interest as Obama pledged that it was time to solve the financial disputes between the two countries.

The U.N. Security Council also lifted sanctions against Bank Sepah and Bank Sepah International Sunday. The agreement front-loaded almost all of the requirements for Tehran to disable and dismantle key nuclear activities that had put Iran in noncompliance with its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations.